Orlando Magic: 2018-19 player grades for Nikola Vucevic

Nikola Vucevic started 2018-19 with questions about his abilities to lead the Orlando Magic and ended it as the best player on a playoff-bound team.

Nobody on the Orlando Magic roster had a season quite like center Nikola Vucevic. It began like his previous few years in the league. with Magic fans and fans of other teams alike questioning if he was an empty stats kind of player.

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Somebody who could put up big numbers, but who was not capable of carrying his team towards the postseason.

There was good reason to believe this; Vucevic averaging a double-double in four of the previous six campaigns before 2018-19.

An important change for Vucevic came in 2018-19 however, with coach Steve Clifford choosing to run the offense through his considerable skills in that position.

This unlocked Vucevic’s true potential, as an ever improving 3-point shot (a respectable 36.4 percent from deep), combined with his passing ability and footwork, allowed him to punish opponents nightly.

The other big knock on Vucevic’s game to that point had been his deficiencies defensively, but coach Clifford found a way to work around that.

The Magic ended the regular season ranked eighth (107.6) in this category, with the team actually having an even better rating of 106.4 when Vucevic was on the court.

Given how much his defensive woes had been highlighted in the past, this illustrated how Vucevic became a better two-way player for the organization.

That he received a spot on the All-Star team highlighted how much he grew as a force on a winning team, one which went 42-40 and return to the playoffs for the first time since 2012,  before being bounced in the first round.

The four-year, $100 million deal Vucevic signed off the back of his best season a fair reward for his efforts, even if it remains to be seen if he can continue to build on what was his best season as a professional in the NBA.

Strengths

As mentioned already, the offensive end was where Nikola Vucevic shined brightest, as he once again averaged a double-double with 20.8 points and 12 rebounds, both of which were career-highs.

Something that flew under the radar, however, was his assist numbers. Vucevic has great hands for a big man, and is a willing passer of the ball.

Part of the reason the Magic found success throughout the year was their ability to give up good shots for better ones. Vucevic was integral in ensuring that way of playing started from the top down.

His 3.8 assists per game were again a career high, and at one point during the season he led the team in this category. He would end the season trailing only point guards D.J. Augustin (5.3) and Michael Carter-Williams (4.1) in this area.

Given that Carter-Williams was added late for the playoff push (he appeared in only 12 regular season games, this is even more impressive.

The Magic would finish 12th in assists during the regular season as a team (25.5 per game), and it is fair to give a lot of the credit to Vucevic. Whether moving the ball from the inside out or swinging it around the 3-point arc, Vucevic was useful in getting the ball to the open man.

That selflessness is what makes him one of the more unique All-Stars in the league, although as we will see this is not always a good thing. However his willingness to get others involved and not take all of the credit for himself, despite putting up big numbers, permeated throughout the roster.

Organizations usually take on the persona of their best player (the Toronto Raptors with Kawhi Leonard, quiet and devastating on their way to a title are a great recent example), and this was true of the Magic as well.

They looked to be enjoying themselves, finding ways to score as a unit and defending as one well. A lot of the same qualities of Vucevic, which are valuable to build around.

Weaknesses

To say that Nikola Vucevic is the perfect player and has no weaknesses would not be true, he is at best one of the top 25 players in the league, and nothing more.

But he is among the top five centers in the NBA today and the fact he did a bit of everything for the Magic makes it harder to pinpoint his weaknesses.

Criticizing his defensive play would have been the obvious place to start in previous years, but we have already seen how he had made acceptable strides in that area. Improvement that he, as well as the coaching staff, can take credit for.

Putting up big numbers in losing efforts was the other way to go when highlighting what he couldn’t do, but a winning season, a division title and a return to the postseason with Vucevic as unquestionably their best player means that this is no longer true either. At least for now.

Instead we must move on to the next phase of criticism, and that is how poorly he played against the eventual champion Raptors in the five-game series before they bowed out.

The Raptors were simply the better team, and were able to throw guys like Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka and even Leonard at Vucevic to slow him down.

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That they did so with such ease is the most worrying thing about how he will carry on in Orlando. Vucevic averaged 11.2 points and 8.0 rebounds in the series, while averaging only 29.4 minutes per game.

Stars are supposed to see more time during the playoffs, so it was telling that his court time actually regressed from the 31.4 minutes per contest of the regular season.

More than that, the attitude of Vucevic throughout this period was troubling to watch.

Not the loudest or most emotional guy on the court to begin with, he appeared to be on autopilot and unable to snap out of the funk the Raptors were able to put upon him. It culminated with Vucevic personally exiting the playoffs with a whimper.

This can’t happen again because he has been brought back to once again lead this young team on another playoff run, with the hope this time being that they can be even better. Vucevic will also be doing this while taking minutes away from sophomore Mohamed Bamba.

His first foray into the playoffs with the Magic didn’t go well, and it didn’t inspire much hope for the future either.

Highlights

The obvious answer here is Nikola Vucevic becoming the Magic’s first All-Star since Dwight Howard, and it was well deserved.

“Vooch” spoke at the time about his admiration for Dirk Nowitzki as well, so it was nice that he got to play with him on what was the final midseason exhibition classic appearance for the Dallas Mavericks legend.

Vucevic didn’t do much during the game itself though, as he scored four points and recorded five rebounds in 12 minutes of action.

During the season itself he was at his best during a big home win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Nov. 18 in which he posted 36 points and 13 rebounds.

One week later Vucevic repeated the trick, going for 31 points and 15 rebounds out in Los Angeles to sweep the season series over the Lakers.

Given the relationship that exists between both franchises and the departures of Howard and Shaquille O’Neal to their rivals out west throughout the years, it was nice for the perceived “little brother” to get one over on the more storied team.

Vucevic was integral to that, looking like the best player on the court for much of both games, despite sharing it with LeBron James. It also served as a springboard for the rest of their season, to let the league know that both the Magic and Vucevic could hang with more fancied opponents.

He was also big during a crucial two-game trip down to Mexico, in which the Magic beat the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz.

That time away was a potential banana-skin as they had lost the previous three games going into it and couldn’t afford to lose more ground on the teams around them.

Instead Vucevic posted 25 points and 10 rebounds against the Bulls, and 15 points and 19 rebounds against a tough Jazz outfit.

By the time the regular season was in the books, Vucevic had posted a Player Efficiency Rating (league average 15) of 25.5., the ninth-best number in the league. Big performances at crucial times were what placed him so high on that list.

Final Grade

The perfect season for Nikola Vucevic and one where he silenced all of his doubters. He proved he could be the best player on a playoff team, and with the right help around him he was able to put up even bigger numbers than before but not have it all be for nothing.

The postseason exit was a concern, and there are still those who question if bringing him back at all was the right thing to do. At 28 he is entering his prime with the rest of the Magic’s core looking a bit off that themselves at the moment.

The money he is now making isn’t unbearable, but he is being paid to continue performing at an All-Star level.

Over the course of the regular season though, he was arguably the best center in the Eastern conference. He posted career highs in points, rebounds and assists, and his fantastic PER rating speaks for itself.

He improved again defensively, to the point where the team were actually better on that end when he was on the court.

Aaron Gordon and Jonathan Isaac deserve a lot of credit for turning the Magic’s fortunes around on that end, but Vucevic did spend considerable time on the court with Augustin and Evan Fournier. Two guys not known for their defensive prowess.

He made a difference defensively, and after years of that not being the case, it was a welcome sight.

The continued 3-point shooting added another layer to his game, although it is hoped he doesn’t fall in love with the outside shot too much.

Vucevic is still needed to be a more traditional center who can work around the paint, and his touch and nifty feet ensure he is capable of moving around stronger opponents as well.

If he continues letting it fly from deep (2.9 attempts per game), he could morph into a glorified four. With Isaac already in place, that is not what the Magic want.

Really though we are nitpicking, as Nikola Vucevic had the best season in an Orlando Magic jersey since Dwight Howard was in town. In doing so he continued climbing the list of all-time franchise greats as well.

Grade A+